Prospect Hill/Butler Bay is estate 23 in St. Croix’s Northside A Quarter. Based on appearances on historic maps, the windmill was likely built in the late 18th century. The estate was likely named for the nearby bay & hill to the east. The windmill was incorporated into a dwelling & remains in good condition.
Prospect Hill/Butler Bay includes estate 23 and an unnumbered strip of land at the coastline to the west, a distinction that disappeared between the first and second Beck map printings. This area was settled in the French period and cotton cultivated by 1750 in the Danish period.
An animal mill depicted on the second Beck mill printing appears on all the maps based on this printing. The 1766 annotated map hand draws an animal mill close to the shore and in the southeast of estate 23. The c.1767 annotated Beck map had the printed animal mill and added a hand-drawn animal mill in the southeast corner of estate 23. Both of the manuscript copies of Beck include the two animal mills.
The 1799 Oxholm map and 1856 Parsons map both depict at windmill at Butlers Bay. The 20th-century topographic maps include an icon identifiable as a windmill at 110 feet elevation.
Ownership of this estate transitions across the Beck variants. The 1766 annotated map and both the manuscript copies attribute ownership to William Dalton. The 1767 and c.1767 annotated maps attribute ownership to Charls Dalÿ. Ownership transitions to John Hanson on the 1770 and c.1770 maps. The 1790 and 1791 maps do not attribute ownership.
McGuire geographic dictionary of the Virgin Islands (p.44 & p.151) makes no mention of a windmill at Butler Bay and places Prospect Hill far to the east.